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Jack Lifton: Junior REE miners need a well formulated business model. That is critical and often missing. My experience indicates that in the REE industry, many junior miners have not given any thought to their business beyond producing concentrated ores. In this business though, downstream processing is a critical part of the added value. A miner needs to produce something that customers want to buy. This revelation surprised many of the enormous number of juniors that popped up over the last five or six years. Companies that understood the supply chain had a greater chance of surviving. In REEs, profits are not derived directly from mining ore, because the concentrates are heavily discounted by the market due to the current shortage of accessible separation capacity outside of mainland China.
TMR: So greater vertical integration is the key to profitability? Is completely vertically integrated the best?
JL: You can't be totally vertically integrated. The end-use products that contain REEs are complex. For example, an iron miner with the strategy to make cars would be laughed at. Yet, when a REE miner advocates making REE permanent magnets, everybody applauds. Simplistically, it sounds like a great way to make money. But it is an example of the foolish overreach by almost all of the REE juniors a few years back. And nobody has accomplished it. Interestingly, that type of "mine to magnet" vertical integration does not exist in the Chinese industry for the simple reason that it doesn't make economic sense.
TMR: Does that mean the differentiator between the survivors and the non-survivors is technologyâeither proprietary technology or operational use of technology?
JL: I'm calling it "technology awareness." In other words, company survival is dependent on recognizing limits. Patented processing technology is not necessarily important. But most companies that make REE permanent magnets have quite a bit of proprietary knowledge they don't disclose. No outside company is going to get that process knowledge for free. When I heard about companies talking about their "mine to magnet" strategy, I realized they really didn't understand what REE permanent magnets were all about. To me it was Bay Street hype or Wall Street hype. It was obvious promotion. However, I noticed that small investors and even institutional investors, who should know better, were falling for this story.
I have been saying from day oneâtotal vertical integration is not possible. Now that doesn't mean that there weren't companies like Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (GWG:TSX.V; GWMGF:OTCQX) or even Molycorp Inc. (MCP:NYSE), that weren't attempting to do this by mergers and acquisitions. Great Western, for example, acquired what was an existing high-technology company, Less Common Metals Ltd. of Great Britain, which was already in the rare earth magnet alloy market making a profit. What Great Western did with Less Common Metals was an example of sensible vertical integration. However, when companies started trying to get into these technology-enabled end products on their own, this was just silly.
Companies should have been looking at each step of the process required to produce a sellable product. They needed to understand a multi-step value chain. For example, if they are able to concentrate the REE ores, what do they do with the ore concentrate? How will the company get from the ore concentrate to some kind of chemical solution or solid form that it can then further process? With the REEs, the first step to create a bulk concentrate is not much of an accomplishment. The real problem in REE processing is separationâand that is the issue that most REE juniors have not solved in a cost effective way.
TMR: Are there technologies that differentiate some juniors in separation?
JL: No. At this point, everyone is planning to separate and purify REEs using the same basic technology, called solvent extraction. The differentiator is the ability to cost effectively separate the most valuable heavy rare earths (HREEs). The richest REE mineral concentrate contains little of the desirable HREEs. Most REE ore is 75% to 80% light rare earths (LREEs)âmostly lanthanum, cerium, neodymium and praseodymium. Of the LREEs, the only one that is really critical is neodymium, which is the basis of most of the REE permanent magnets. All of the other critical REEs, the ones that we really need in our modern technology are the HREE category. Altogether, these would not exceed more than 15â20% of the total mass of the best ore. When processing and separating REEs, almost 80% of the material will be lanthanum and cerium with a smaller amount of neodymium,the revenue from which has to pay for the separation of all of the first three elements. After that, the operator needs to calculate if it makes sense to keep running to produce another 5â6% of the HREEs that are valuable. While the richest deposit is up to 20% HREEs, an average deposit is more likely between 1â5% HREEs. As ore is processed to separate the less common HREEs, the cost gets progressively higher. Solvent extraction is a very expensive process such that operational costs of the technology becomes a differentiator. When it comes to survivors, we can discuss a company like Orbite Aluminae Inc. (ORT:TSX; EORBF:OTXQX). Orbite's success isn't all about a new technology, it's about a streamlined technology.
TMR: What is Orbite doing differently than others?
JL: Orbite is starting small. The juniors that I believe will survive have a willingness to cut back on their projections of future production volume. I'm only going to talk about those who are not yet producing. In the United States, for example, there is Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (UCU:TSX.V; UURAF:OTCQX) and Rare Element Resources Ltd. (RES:TSX; REE:NYSE.MKT). In Europe we're talking about Tasman Metals Ltd. (TSM:TSX.V; TAS:NYSE.MKT; TASXF:OTCPK; T61:FSE). These companies have all developed the same business model independently. The idea is to size mining and refining correctly. The total output of Ucore will be 2,200 tons per year (2,200 tpa) total rare earth oxide (TREO). Rare Element Resources and Tasman are on the order of 5,000 tpa each of TREO, which are skewed in total value toward the HREEs.
A good example of right sizing is Rare Element Resources recent business model showing the majority of its income will come from everything but lanthanum and cerium. Lanthanum and cerium in that plan are around 15% of the total value. To me, this is excellent. Those elements are nearly 80% of the produced volume, but represent only 15% of the revenue. The majority of the revenue comes from neodymium and heavier elements. The plans for Ucore and Tasman are similar. They have refocused their business models to produce less volume and more of the "good stuff." To do that they had to reconsider their plans for building solvent extraction plants. The new plans are not like Lynas Corp. (LYC:ASX) or Molycorp. The Lynas plant will process 122,000 tpa of ore, to produce 22,000 tpa of concentrate mostly in lanthanum, cerium, neodymium and praseodymium. Approximately 5% of the total is the midrange and HREEs. That is only 1,000 tpa of the best material. But the company has had to construct one of the largest solvent extraction plants in the world to be able to get at that 1,000 tpa.
The current production rate at Molycorp is approximately 19,800 tpa. It is almost entirely LREEs, because the deposits in California do not have significant midrange or HREEs. Unless they bring in new ore sources, they will be producing exclusively LREEs. The publically available numbers indicate the Molycorp plant cost over $1 billion ($1B) and Lynas approximately $800 million ($800M). Those are huge capex numbers for an industry that is under price pressure.
The business models of Rare Element Resource, Ucore and Tasman call for separation plants of 2,200â5,000 tpa. Frontier Rare Earths Ltd. (FRO:TSX) in Africa is approximately the same size. Assuming that costs scale, to estimate the capex of a 5,000 tpa plant, I can divide Lynas' approximate costs by four. That is about $200M for a plant to produce 5,000 tpa. Ucore's projected costs are lower according to its plan. These capex figures are numbers that are reasonable if you're producing HREEs.
Let's discuss Orbite again, where the situation is a little different. The company's plan is to establish a 1,200 tpa solvent extraction REE separation plant. It is designed to process the entire spectrum of REEs. Orbite's REE capex plans amount to $32M based on using byproduct feedstock from a large aluminum oxide plant to be brought into operation on the Gaspé Peninsula of Québec. A 1,200 tpa, total-spectrum REE plant for $32M is much cheaper per-unit capex than either Lynas or Molycorp, both of which have plants that are limited LREE separation. If the Orbite facility can be built according to plan, it will be a benchmark for low-cost REE separation. Keep in mind that Orbite is not a REE company. Orbite is a high-purity alumina oxide company that plans on producing REEs as a byproduct.
I'm very impressed by what I know of Alkane Resources Ltd.'s (ANLKY:OTCQX; ALK:ASX) business model. Alkane is a polymetallic producer and its mix of metals, which includes zirconium, niobium, yttrium, REEs and gold, has allowed it to minimize the risk of depending entirely on REE production. Alkane is making a series of individual off-take agreements with separate vertically integrated refiners who themselves are also downstream end users and marketing experts in the products for which Alkane will provide the feedstock. This is an outstanding 21st-century business model that has allowed Alkane to create a synergistic revenue stream. In a sense, Alkane has become a mini-Glencore International Plc (GLEN:LSE), a vertically integrated trading company. This is a business model that I urge juniors with polymetallic deposits to emulate.
These producers are all pushing the industry toward centralized HREE separation. It would make a lot of sense if individual producers focused on LREE separation and left the heavy concentrates to be toll processed centrally by one company. HREE separation is a capability today of the Rhodia division of Solvay Group (SOLB:NYX), which has a full-scale separation plant of 9,000 tpa in France that processes the total spectrum of REEs. That plant has been in operation for 45-years and is dedicated to making specialty chemicals for the Solvay Corporation, the current owner of Rhodia. The Rhodia feedstock is mostly sourced from China and production is geared toward internal company needsâat this time it is not a toll separation plant.
TMR: Is there room in the industry for an international toll separation plant to be built?
JL: Yes. Even if Rhodia were to run its current plant only as a toll separation, it wouldn't produce enough volume both for Rhodia's internal needs and for the international, non-Chinese consumers.
TMR: In August, you are presenting your case for a new international REE toll refinery to the Chinese Society of Rare Earths. What reaction are you expecting?
JL: My thinking about this has evolved. I think that the Chinese want this to happen. The Chinese are now restructuring their REE production industry and downsizing it to match their internal demand. They will grow the industry in the future, but only to meet their domestic demand. I do not believe that the Chinese are interested in the REE export business. In the last year the Chinese have cut legal, reported production by more than 30%. Originally, Chinese domestic users consumed 60% of their own production. It's up to more than 80% today. When I proposed an international toll refinery, I was surprised at the positive reaction I got from this in China. I was told by a high-ranking Chinese official in the REE industry that this is an excellent topic. The Chinese really do want to hear outsider views on this. It appears that the Chinese would like the rest of the world to develop enough REE production and refining so that the domestic Chinese REE industry can be left alone. That's my analysis at this point in time.
TMR: How would new international toll refining change REE pricing? Would there still be a Chinese domestic price and a different international price?
JL: Yes. At the moment the export prices are set by tax. Domestically, Chinese REEs are much cheaper than internationally posted prices because of the large export tax. There's a cap on volume as well as a large tax. The prices we see for cerium or lanthanum in North America, for example, are Chinese domestic prices plus export duties and transport.
The problem for a new REE producer isâwhich price is it that you're going after? For example, say I can buy lanthanum in Chicago for the Chinese export price of $20/kg. Suppose I can produce lanthanum in New Jersey for $10/kg. That looks like a solid profit. The problem is "where is your market?" Yes, $10/kg is great if you're going to sell this into a North American market and the Chinese maintain their export duties. That is fine, except that there's no real market for these materials in North America. There's no total supply chain outside of China. China is the main place where the raw materials get turned into finished product. China is the only location of an existing "mine to magnet" total supply chain. Better than even, "mine to magnet," China has "mine to vacuum cleaner," "mine to car," and "mine to washing machine." They've got everything. As a North American producer of lanthanum, I'm going to have to sell into China at the domestic price, and pay the import duty and cover transport costs. These are all issues that junior miners do not think about. But these issues matter if you are trying to finance a $1B refinery. Is there a market at the price you're going to produce? It's not just about your costs per kilogram. When there is an accidental or intentional monopoly player like China, there are substantial additional factors to consider. And we haven't even mentioned the possibility of import quotas. And then there is the uncertainty. . .everything could change tomorrow.
The Chinese REE market is evolving rapidly. They have dramatic overcapacity in everything: mining, refining, fabrication, you name it. There is a desire to cut back to profitable unit production. As they move in that direction, prices will rise in China. The Chinese goal is to have prices that can sustain the industry. External competition in the commodity markets is not their concern. The model of Rhodia as a toll refinery does not concern China. Solvay is not in the mining business. They don't make metals. They don't make magnets. They are a solvent exchange separation and high-purity refining company. Their output goes directly to the chemical, automotive and high-tech industries. Rhodia has a large competitive advantage because of its extant investment and China is not trying to take it away.
However, REE permanent magnets are a different business because the refined elements from a company like Rhodia have to go to metal maker, an alloy maker and then a magnet maker. While they have these industries in Europe, there is not enough capacity to satisfy all European industrial demand. The Chinese dominate the HREEs because there are no sources outside China. There are still no mines outside of China that are producing significant quantities of HREEs. The Chinese still supply 100% of the world production.
The locations of the REE survivors will determine where the toll refining business opportunities will happen. Ucore is in Alaska, Rare Element Resources in Wyoming. The American political climate is such that exporting natural resources to China, especially ones that have been as hyped as REEs, is not very likely to get the support of the government. Therefore, I think there is a strong possibility of a REE toll refinery being built in North America.
Tasman is located in Sweden and does not have to deal with the U.S. political climate. In this case, there is a strong possibility that HREE concentrates will be sold to China, for processing inside China. Other than Rhodia and perhaps two other small facilities in Japan, there's no HREE processing capability outside of China. While Tasman could ship ore or concentrates to China for the dysprosium content, the company wouldn't make any money doing it. Tasman is under review by several European companies as a source for potential feedstock into their vertical supply chain. That would be one path to the creation of a central European REE toll separation and refining plant.
The entire HREE industry of the world, which today is 100% in China, produces total of 15,000 tpa of HREEs. Of that, 60% is the element yttrium. Two new toll refining plants outside of China could double the world's production of the HREEs. In order to do that, we'd have to obtain HREEs ores from outside of China. The surviving juniors will be the companies that supply the midrange and HREEs to these types of refineries.
TMR: Could the Molycorp plant be modified slightly become a toll refinery?
JL: It would be more than a slight modification. It would be very expensive. I wrote earlier this year that if I were Molycorp, I would change the company direction. I would deemphasize mining and expand the Phoenix project to be the Western world's toll refiner. To me, that would be an ideal solution.
TMR: Does Molycorp agree with you?
JL: Well, I have to admit that statement of mine met with some ridicule from the company, but now I've noticed that they've gotten very quiet. The company is in the process of restructuring. Theoretically, as a toll refinery, Molycorp would be well positioned. Executing that strategy would be another matter. Financially, it would be tough. However, although the California plant only separates LREEs, Molycorp is in that business of total-spectrum rare earth separation because of its ownership of Neo Materials, which has two small plants in China. Those are relatively small plants, but they are capable of processing and purifying HREEs. Putting that technology into operation in California would be expensive. However, I think that's a good idea. Because Molycorp has no HREE feedstock, it would become a toll refinery.
TMR: Is there anything you want to summarize before we sign off?
JL: The "good stuff" the industry needs is the HREEs. I still hear to this day, "Rare earths are like gold." No they're not. Not all of them. The juniors that have worked out solid business models to produce HREEs will be the survivors. One or two international toll refineries would further enable the development of any and all of these deposits. If there was a toll refinery that could process midrange and HREEs concentrates, this would make ventures in Australia, like Hastings Rare Metals Ltd. (HAS:ASX) and Northern Minerals Ltd. (NTU:ASX), extremely interesting while simplifying the business models for the junior miners we discussed. Otherwise, we're going to wind up with a monopolized Chinese REE industry and the rest of us will be looking at it from the sidelines.
TMR: It has been great to talk to you again.
JL: Glad to speak with you.
Jack Lifton is an independent consultant and commentator, focusing on market fundamentals and future end-use trends of the rare metals. He specializes in sourcing nonferrous strategic metals and due diligence studies of businesses in that space. He has more than 50 years of experience in the global OEM automotive, heavy equipment, electrical and electronic, mining, smelting and refining industries.
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1) J. Alec Gimurtu conducted this interview for The Metals Report and provides services to The Metals Report as an independent contractor. He or his family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in the interview are sponsors of The Metals Report: Great Western Minerals Group Ltd., Orbite Aluminae Inc. and Tasman Metals Ltd. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services or as sponsorship payment.
3) Jack Lifton: I or my family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: None I personally, as an operations consultant, am paid by the following companies mentioned in this interview: Ucore Rare Metals Inc., Rare Element Resources Ltd. and Tasman Metals Ltd. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this interview: None. I was not paid by Streetwise Reports for participating in this interview. Comments and opinions expressed are my own comments and opinions. I had the opportunity to review the interview for accuracy as of the date of the interview and am responsible for the content of the interview.
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6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned and may make purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise.


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Who would want to live all the way out on 11th Avenue, at 54th Street, no less? What's there? Nothing! Except the Mercedes House, where the answer to first question appears to be: everyone!
According to Two Trees' Asher Abehsera, the second phase of the massive Far West Side development has been renting faster than a sports car, with more than half of the units gone since coming on the market a little over two months ago. So far, 174 of the 384 units have been leased, and move-ins are underway—without the help of any outside brokers, Mr. Abehsera said.
"I don't know that other people have done 170 apartments at market-rate prices with no outside brokers in two and a half months. That's probably a big deal," he said.
Mr. Abehsera credits this to factors both in the market and at the company. "I think to some extent there's obviously a shortage of product in the marketplace, so anything that's out there and aesthetically is nice, people have a real interest in," he said. "At the same time, I think, we're probably doing better because our design is so spectacular. It's an odd shaped building, it's really impressive, it really feels when you walk in the lobby or see the building from a distance, it has a premium feel."
Take a tour of the Mercedes House >>
The project was designed by Enrique Norten, the inventive Mexican architect whose profile has been on the rise in New York during the boom. His biggest project yet, it features a unique zig-zagging design that creates courtyards on two sides of the building, perched atop a Mercedes Benz dealership (hence the name). Mr. Abehsera said that open space was among the features that was helping to attract renters.
"We have a spectacular amenity program with 28,000 square feet of interior, contiguous space, with light and air and 60,000 square feet of outdoor space," he boasted. "Within that interior space there's weight lifting, boxing, yoga studios, an indoor pool, spin room, juice bar and all that. One of the outdoor decks had a lounge pool, which is pretty impressive. That's actually a big role in the decision making of people moving out to the building."
According to Streeteasy, rents start around $3,600 for a one-bedroom, $4,150 for a two bedroom. The entire first phase of the project, which hit the market in spring of last year, have been leased.
For those without the means to lease, check with the city, because there are 96 affordable units in the building, part of the inclusionary housing program. There are also condo units on the top 10 floors of the 32-story building, but it looks increasingly like those units will be rented, instead. "As we approach completion, around Thanksgiving time, our thinking would be probably to rent them," Mr. Abehsera said.
Despite what seems like a challenging location, well, it's not, according to Mr. Abehsera: "I think that going into the product, when we first came to market, we had no expectations, we had no real confidence in terms of what we would be getting. And what happened was a couple of things. We didn't realize the built-in audience who works on 8th Avenue, 7th Avenue in the 50s, the financial firms, for them it's a breeze in terms of walk to work. You also have a real audience concentrated in living on the waterfront, you know, spectacular views, you have the Hudson River Park. You're only a very short walk to Columbus Circle, you're a very short distance, also, to the Upper West Side, if you wanted to go that route. Or to Midtown or the Theater District."
"I'm seeing, just from the people moving into the building, who we're interacting with, it's a real, dynamic, young New York market that's just excited about living on the West Side," he added.
Still, to further his efforts, Mr. Abehsera has hatched an ingenious plan to help the once dowdy area's cache: he wants to extend West End Avenue all the way down to 42nd Street. He said the idea dawned on him once while walking to the project from the Upper West Side. Looking around at all the development going on, he believes it makes perfect sense.
"If you got to 58th and 11th Avenue, there's no such thing, it's 58th and West End Avenue," Mr. Abeshsera said. "If this was called 53rd, 54th and West End, you're talking about a very different building. There's no reason why it shouldn't be, between us, Silverstein, Related, Gotham West, and you have Durst, as well, with their project on 57th."
"People don't realize it yet, but this is the place to be."

subset: commoncrawl


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DALLAS, June 20 (UPI) -- Ultraviolet overexposure from sunlight or tanning beds is easily preventable, but skin cancer's incidence rates continue to rise, a U.S. dermatologist says.
Dr. Gabriela Blanco of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas said the incidence of melanoma -- the most lethal form of skin cancer -- among people ages 15-29 has grown 800 percent for women and 400 percent for men in the last four decades.
Risk factors include a family history of melanoma, fair skin, light-colored eyes and hair, and a high number of moles on the body, Blanco said.
"When outside, people do not need to use different sunscreens," Blanco said in a statement. "Scientific data has demonstrated that products with an SPF of 15 or higher reduce the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging, in addition to helping prevent sunburn."
To protect from the sun, Blanco recommended:
-- Apply sunscreen daily to all exposed skin at least 30 minutes before going outdoors. Physical blockers, containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, provide the broadest coverage.
-- Avoid sun tanning and tanning beds.
-- Wear protective clothing, sunglasses and wide-brim hats. Bathing suits and clothing with Ultraviolet Protective Factor also can enhance protection against the sun.
-- Seek shade and remember that the sun's rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.


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In one of the rooms in my house the walls are wallpapered. Underneath the wall is rough and porous (see picture).
My plan is to strip the wall paper and eventually paint it, but research seems to suggest that it needs some kind of treatment first. I have read about skimming, and plastering, which while tricky, I'm happy to have a go at, but I have also read about using "alkali resistant wall primer".
What is the best way to tackle this? I am after a decent enough finish, ideally without spending a fortune, and if possible not too tricky.


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Keeping your personal data safe doesn't have to be difficult—as long as you keep the sensitive stuff encrypted and under your control. That's why this week we're looking at the five best file encryption tools you can use to encrypt your data locally so only you have the key.
Earlier in the week we asked you for your favorite file encryption tools, and you gave us tons of great nominations, but as always, we only have room for the top five.
For the purposes of our roundup, we're focusing on desktop file encryption tools - the ones you use on your own computer to encrypt your own private data, not cloud services that promise to encrypt your data, or business services that say they offer encryption. The goal here is to find the best tools you can use to lock down your sensitive files—whether they're photos, financial documents, personal backups, or anything else—and keep them locked down so only you have the key. For those unfamiliar with the topic, we have a great guide on how encryption works, and how you can use it to keep your own data safe.
With that out of the way, here are your top five, in no particular order:
VeraCrypt (Windows/OS X/Linux)
VeraCrypt is a fork of and a successor to TrueCrypt, which ceased development last year (more on them later.) The development team claims they've addressed some of the issues that were raised during TrueCrypt's initial security audit, and like the original, it's free, with versions available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. If you're looking for a file encryption tool that works like and reminds you of TrueCrypt but isn't exactly TrueCrypt, this is it. VeraCrypt supports AES (the most commonly used), TwoFish, and Serpent encryption ciphers, supports the creation of hidden, encrypted volumes within other volumes. Its code is available to review, although it's not strictly open source (because so much of its codebase came from TrueCrypt.) The tool is also under constant development, with regular security updates and an independent audit in the planning stages (according to the developers.)
Those of you who nominated VeraCrypt praised it for being an on-the-fly encryption tool, as in your files are only decrypted when they're needed and they're encrypted at rest at all other times, and most notably for being the spiritual (if not almost literal) successor to TrueCrypt. Many of you praised them for being a strong tool that's simple to use and to the point, even if it's lacking a good-looking interface or tons of bells and whistles. You also noted that VeraCrypt may not support TrueCrypt files and containers, but can convert them to its own format, which makes moving to it easy. You can read more in its nomination thread here.
AxCrypt (Windows)
AxCrypt is a free, open source, GNU GPL-licensed encryption tool for Windows that prides itself on being simple, efficient, and easy to use. It integrates nicely with the Windows shell, so you can right-click a file to encrypt it, or even configure "timed," executable encryptions, so the file is locked down for a specific period of time and will self-decrypt later, or when its intended recipient gets it. Files with AxCrypt can be decrypted on demand or kept decrypted while they're in use, and then automatically re-encrypted when they're modified or closed. It's fast, too, and allows you to select an entire folder or just a large group of files and encrypt them all with a single click. It's entirely a file encryption tool however, meaning creating encrypted volumes or drives is out of its capabilities. It supports 128-bit AES encryption only, offers protection against brute force cracking attempts, and is exceptionally lightweight (less than 1MB.)
Those of you who nominated AxCrypt noted that it's really easy to use and easy to integrate into your workflow, thanks to its shell support. If you're eager for more options, it also has a ton of command line options, so you can fire up the command prompt in Windows and perform more complex actions—or multiple actions at once. It may not support the strongest or most varied encryption methods available, but if you're looking to keep your data safe from most threats, it's a simple tool that can lend a little security that your data—like files stored in the cloud on Dropbox or iCloud, for example—are secure and convenient to access at the same time. You can read more in this nomination thread here and here.
BitLocker (Windows)
BitLocker is a full-disk encryption tool built in to Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Ultimate and Enterprise), and into Windows 8 (Pro and Enterprise), as well as Windows Server (2008 and later). It supports AES (128 and 256-bit) encryption, and while it's primarily used for whole-disk encryption, it also supports encrypting other volumes or a virtual drive that can be opened and accessed like any other drive on your computer. It supports multiple authentication mechanisms, including traditional password and PINs, a USB "key," and the more controversial Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology (that uses hardware to integrate keys into devices) that makes encryption and decryption transparent to the user but also comes with a host of its own issues. Either way, BitLocker's integration with Windows (specifically Windows 8 Pro) makes it accessible to many people, and a viable disk encryption tool for individuals looking to protect their data if their laptop or hard drives are lost or stolen, in case their computers are compromised, or a business looking to secure data in the field.
Of course, it goes without saying that BitLocker was a contentious nomination. More than a few of you touted BitLocker's accessibility and ease of use, and many of you even praised its encryption for being strong and difficult to crack. Many of you noted that you switched to BitLocker after the developers of TrueCrypt suggested it. Others, however, brought up the assertion made from privacy advocates that BitLocker is compromised and has backdoors in place for government security agencies (from multiple countries) to decrypt your data. While Microsoft has officially said this isn't true and maintains there's no backdoor in BitLocker (while simultaneously maintaining the code as closed source—but available to review by its partners, which include those agencies), the assertion is enough to make more than a few of you shy away. You can read more about the criticism and controversy at the Wikipedia link above, or in the nomination thread here.
GNU Privacy Guard (Windows/OS X/Linux)
GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) is actually an open-source implementation of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). While you can install the command line version on some operating systems, most people choose from the dozens of frontends and graphical interfaces for it, including the official releases that can encrypt everything from email to ordinary files to entire volumes. All GnuPG tools support multiple encryption types and ciphers, and generally are capable of encrypting individual files one at a time, disk images and volumes, or external drives and connected media. A few of you nominated specific GnuPG front-ends in various threads, like the Windows Gpg4Win, which uses Kleopatra as a certificate manager.
Those of you who nominated GnuPG praised it for being open-source and accessible through dozens of different clients and tools, all of which can offer file encryption as well as other forms of encryption, like robust email encryption for example. The key, however, is finding a front-end or a client that does what you need it to do and works well with your workflow. The screenshot above was taken using GPGTools, an all-in-one GnuPG solution that offers keychain management as well as file, email, and disk encryption for OS X. You can read more in its nomination thread here.
7-Zip (Windows/OS X/Linux)
7-Zip is actually a lightweight file archiver—and our favorite archive utility for Windows. Even though it's amazing at compressing and organizing files for easy storage or sending over the internet, it's also a strong file encryption tool, and is capable of turning individual files or entire volumes into encrypted volumes that only your have the keys to. It's completely free, even for commercial use, supports 256-bit AES encryption, and while the official download is Windows only, there are unofficial builds for Linux and OS X systems as well. Most of 7-Zip's code is GNU LGPL licensed and open to review. Compressed and encrypted .7z (or .zip, if you prefer) archives are easily portable and secure, and can be encrypted with passwords and turned into executables that will self-decrypt when they get to their intended recipient. 7-Zip also integrates with the shell of the operating system you're using, making it usually a click away from use. It's also a powerful command line utility.
Those of you who nominated it noted that it may not have the most robust user interface, but it gets the job done, and many of you have it installed anyway specifically for its robust file compression and decompression capabilities. You noted it's fast, flexible, free, and easy to use, and while it may not be the fastest file encryption tool (and it's not capable of whole volume or disk encryption), it gets the job done—especially for encrypting files you need to send to someone else and actually have them be able to access without jumping through too many hoops. Some of you noted that 7-Zip's encrypted volumes are flexible—perhaps too flexible, since new files added to an encrypted archive aren't encrypted (you'd have to extract them all and make a new archive for that), but it's otherwise a minor ding. You can read more in its nomination thread here.
Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the community favorite.
Honorable Mentions
We have two honorable mentions this week. First and foremost is Disk Utility (OS X), which is bundled with OS X as a disk repair and management tool. Disk Utility can also encrypt drives and volumes, and since OS X can create a compressed volume just by right-clicking a file, series of files, or a folder and selecting "Compress," Disk Utility makes encrypting anything you want extremely easy. Plus, it's built in to OS X, so you don't need to install anything else. You can read more about it in its nomination thread here.
Second, we should tip our hats to the venerable old TrueCrypt, our old champion, which actually earned a number of nominations in the call for contenders thread. We covered the meltdown of TrueCrypt when it happened, with the developers abruptly abandoning the project claiming that it's no longer secure, in the middle of their independent security audit. The developers suggested switching to BitLocker, and pushed out a new version that's widely considered compromised. However, the older version, 7.1a, is still widely regarded as safe, even though development on it has been abandoned, and the tool has been left without security updates since then. Even so, security analysts split on whether you should trust TrueCrypt or move on to another encryption utility. Many people stand by it even though it's a dead project, others have built their own projects on top of it (see VeraCrypt, mentioned earlier), and others keep using the last safe version. We can't recommend TrueCrypt anymore ourselves, but you can read more in its nomination thread here, and over at Steve Gibson's page dedicated to TrueCrypt here.
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at [email protected]!
Title photo by andrey_l (Shutterstock).


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Images from Watch Night Celebrations Planned at Churches Throughout the Nation
For 150 years, African American churches have celebrated Watch Night. This is a tradition that has its origins rooted in the heart of the American Civil War. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the official Emanciaption Proclamation. The actual document had been written earlier in September of 1862, and Lincoln gave the states that had seceded 100 days to respond, in an effort to preserve the Union. Of course there was no official response, to re-join the Union, and on January 1, the act of Emancipation was issued.
This was a time of war. Many of the enslaved had already freed themselves, as opportunities occurred---and also the word of the upcoming Emancipation act had filtered into the slave communities. Although by 1863, many had left bondage by joining the Union Army and thousands had fled to the Union lines seeking refuge as "contrabands". But, many thousands remained still enlsaved. In those slaves quarters the word had become more than a whisper--on January 1st, they would be officially free! This was hard to believe and even harder to comprehend.
For so many enslaved, they could only turn to God. With that faith, they gathered in quarters large and small. Some if they were allowed to also have religious services, prayed and watched, and waited. This became the very first Watch Night.
This year, the very document--the Emancipation Proclamation will be commemorated on the 150th Anniversary of it's taking place.
While true, all were not freed by the document itself---it still represents the only official act addressing the status of enslaved men, women and children, and declared from the highest office in the land that they shall be, "forever free!" And since there is no celebration nor act to commemorate the end to enslavement, I shall embrace January 1st as Emancipation Day, on this 150th Anniversary of the Proclamation!
Forever free! Such sweet words these had to be, for those who were born in bondage, and for their parents born in bondage, their grandparents born in bondage. Generations of people were born on this soil sentenced to lifetimes of toil for no valid reason.
Forever free! Such sweet words for those who were born without hope, without sanctuary and without allies.
Forever free! Such sweet words for all men and women whose children would no longer suffer the yoke of restraint, and the heartbreaking pain of separation!
I honor those ancestors of mine who endured and in their honor, I shall have my very own Watch Night event.
From 6:00 pm till midnight, on December 31st, I shall make a post on my blog at the top of each hour---in commemoration of the Proclamation, and in commemoration of my ancestors, who lived, who died, and who endured. As was said in "Daughters of the Dust" : We are the descendants of those who chose to survive.
Join me on Watch Night 2012!


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Online tickets valid any date. Discount off Single Feature price. Not valid with any other discounts. Sorry, no refunds.
Orlando's Premiere Miniature Golf Experience
Come and experience Central Florida's newest and most outrageously themed miniature golf – Hollywood Drive-In Golf at Universal CityWalk Orlando!
The two all-new, state-of-the-art 18-hole courses are unlike any other miniature golf experience. Inspired by the 1950's era, guests enter a classic drive-in theater box office area where they select either a "single-feature" (18-holes) or "double-feature" (36-holes) with a choice of two family friendly courses, "The Haunting of Ghostly Greens" and "Invaders From Planet Putt." Based on vintage horror flicks and "little green men" science fiction films, guests putt through elaborate movie-style scenes, passing through a cemetery, under a giant spider, around an enormous alien robot, through the open mouth of a giant space worm, and into the basement lab of a towering haunted house. Cutting-edge interactive elements and special effects immerse guests further into the "double feature," and LED neon edge-lighting allows play during the day, night, and late night.


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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Wendell Potter knows a little something about the health care industry's practices and is not afraid of to speak out as the health care reform debate heats up around the country.
Wendell Potter once was a vice president in the public relations department for insurance giant Cigna.
The former vice president of corporate communications at insurance giant Cigna, who left his post, says the industry is playing "dirty tricks" in an effort to manipulate public opinion.
"Words matter, and the insurance industry is a master at linguistics and using the hot words, buzzwords, buzz expressions that they know will get people upset," he told CNN Wednesday.
Now a senior fellow on health care for the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, Potter writes a blog on health care reform. He is focusing on efforts to defeat legislation supporting a government health care plan -- something he supports.
In early July, Potter testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, telling senators that "I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry."
Potter described how underwriters at his former company would drive small businesses with expensive insurance claims to dump their Cigna policies. Industry executives refer to the practice as "purging," Potter said.
"When that business comes up for renewal, the underwriters jack the rates up so much, the employer has no choice but to drop insurance," Potter had said.
In an e-mail to CNN, Cigna spokesman Chris Curran denied the company engages in purging.
"We do not practice that. We will offer rates that are reflective of the competitive group health insurance market. We always encourage our clients to compare our proposed rates to those available from other carriers," Curran wrote.
But now, Potter is back in Washington at the invitation from Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York. He is questioning insurance companies' public relations tactics -- and says some of the questions from town hall meetings are familiar. Watch more on the health care reform debate »
"People talk about the government takeover of the system ... that's a buzz term that comes straight out of the insurance industry," he said.
A Cigna spokesman would not comment directly on Potter's accusations. Instead, the company released a written statement saying officials agree that health care reform is needed. But the statement went on to say that officials don't see how a government-sponsored plan can accomplish that.
But Potter's concerns fall right in line with the Democrats' strategy of hitting insurance companies hard this summer. Republicans argue that insurance companies aren't solely to blame for the health care crisis, noting that many of their constituents are perfectly happy with the current system.
The Democratic Party is also dealing with a group of fiscally conservative members known as "Blue Dogs" who are worried over the high costs of the health care plans being bandied about.
Slaughter says that the concerns over a government option may be set up to "try and protect one industry" -- referring to the health insurance industry.
Potter insists he has no agenda -- just a deep passion for the issue.
"This is hard to do. It's scary to do something like this. I don't think I'm any more courageous than anybody but I feel I had to do this."
Potter also has said he decided to resign in 2007 after Cigna's controversial handling of an insurance claim made by the family of a California teenager, Nataline Sarkysian.
The Sarkysian family made repeated appeals at news conferences for Cigna to approve a liver transplant for the 17-year-old, who had leukemia. Cigna initially declined to cover the operation, then reversed its decision.
Sarkysian died hours after the company's reversal.
CNN's Jim Acosta and Bonnie Knapp contributed to this report.
All About CIGNA Corporation • Health Care Policy


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Cell phone alert system proposed
FCC set to propose system to alert cell phone, mobile users of emergencies.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A nationwide alert system will use cell phones or other mobile devices to send text messages to Americans when an emergency occurs, the Federal Communications Commission will announce Wednesday, according to an FCC representative.
The representative said cell phone companies that voluntarily opt into the system would send text-based alert messages to subscribers in response to three types of events:
- A disaster that could jeopardize the health and safety of Americans, such as a terrorist attack; these would trigger a national alert from the president of the United States.
- Imminent or ongoing threats such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.
- Child abductions or Amber alerts.
T-Mobile, Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500), Sprint Nextel (S, Fortune 500) and AT&T (T, Fortune 500) all stated that they would be likely to opt into the alert system if it is passed by the FCC.
"While we obviously need to review the details of the FCC's decision, we look forward to offering mobile emergency alerts to our customers," AT&T said in a written statement.
A Sprint representative said the company would participate if the FCC adopts the plan exactly as it was recommended by an advisory group.
A federal agency, yet to be appointed, would create the messages and information that would go to the participating cell phone companies, the FCC representative said. Once that agency is named, all carriers who opt into the system will have to meet the requirements of the system within 10 months.
Subscribers would be able to opt out of receiving the messages, according to the current plan, and carriers would be required to provide vibration or audio attention signals with a distinct sound for people with disabilities.
The alert system plan was generated out of an act Congress passed in 2006 that looked at emergency communications. The act directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and FCC and other agencies to work together to enhance and expand the capabilities of emergency communications in the United States.`


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Meterpreter script – stickykeys.rb
by zitstif on Jul.18, 2011, under Code, Meterpreter Scripts, Posts
Through the past year or so, I've had some ideas for meterpreter scripts floating around in my head that I've been meaning to put to use. So this is my first unofficial meterpreter script for the Metasploit Framework.
The purpose of this script is to place a backdoor onto a Windows victim system. What it simply does is, copy cmd.exe over to sethc.exe. The sethc.exe program is the sticky keys program. To activate this program you just have to hit the shift key 5 times and sethc.exe will be executed.
While this can be useful for those who are disabled, there is also an abuse for this feature. If you have copied cmd.exe over to sethc.exe, you can then hit shift 5 times and be provided a shell.
If you're at a log on prompt and if you have this backdoor placed, when you activate sethc.exe (instead of logging in) you get a shell with SYSTEM level privileges!
This may seem trivial, however if you're doing a penetration test on a remote Windows system that is running remote desktop, this can be a deadly means for maintaining access. You can then use this as pivoting your way back into the system, even if the original means (say for instance http) is blocked by an IPS and/or firewall.
One truly beautiful facet about this method if you're an attacker, is that cmd.exe renamed as sethc.exe did not trigger any responses from scanners on www.virustotal.com.
I'm planning on adding more to this script, but I just wanted to get this released for the time being. I also want to state that I just put this idea to use for the Metasploit project, this hack has been around for a while:
To install this, simply download the txt file, then change the extension to .rb and throw this file in the framework3/msf3/scripts/meterpreter/ directory.
#Update 7/20/2011
Issue Addressed: Switched all C:\\WINDOWS to %SYSTEMROOT% (Thanks Rod Macpherson )
BUG: On Nokia N900 with Ruby 1.8.7 (arm-linux-eabi), with Metasploit Framework version: svn r13268, I am receiving a compile error message at line 70. (Unexpected ')' )
NOTE: I am not having this issue on Backtrack 5 32bit with Ruby 1.9.2dev (i686-linux)


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Whitetail deer photos, or white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus images. Photos of whitetail bucks from Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Whitetail deer, or white-tailed deer, females are called does and the males are called bucks. The breeding season is called the rut, trophy whitetail buck pictures.
Taxonomy for the white-tailed deer is: Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Class: Mammalia; Order: Artiodactyla; Family: Cervidae; Subfamily: Capreolinae; Genus: Odocoileus; Species: virginianus; Scientific name: Odocoileus virginianus


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"Small Talk said... I m from Kainakary...its a hamlet in Kuttanaad...with immense love and warmth I extend a warm invite to visit our beautiful land...all the stories tht u hv heard...and the images people painted for u will be dwarfed wen u see it for urself....if Kerala is Gods own Land...Kuttanaad is the street the he lives on....Until very recently western vegetables like cauliflower.beans carrot were a luxury.....daily meals were more of fish,poulty,dry fish chamanthi or raw mango chamanthi etc...Women cleaning fish on the sides of canal...men walking around with a bunch a freshly caught karimeen..kids jumping in to water from a coconut palm leaning across canal...trees laden with mangoes stooping onto the backwaters...ammachis visitng church in pristine white chatta...these everyday sights on the backdrop of various hues of green makes u think tht God created a symphony with colours..whose melody lingers even wen u r in a far away land.....Please visit Kuttanaadu...Nedumudi..Kainakary..mk sure u listen to all local folklores from ur ammachi...learn many recipes (share it wth us as well plz)....I m sure u will have a warm and hospitable stay in Kuttanaad..." November 3, 2009 9:02 AM. |
The vast expanse of water, dotted with house boats/Kettu Vallam here and there had a charm of its own..
men enjoying a smoke at the pettikkada ( small shop) ……….
Along the way, we saw temples, churches, cemetery and even a toddy shop quite typical to this place…..
….locals use it for transport , fishing and shopping as well….but I must also mention that they have bigger motor boats for public transport, which is not there in my pictures.
They are also used for bringing in potable water in huge cylindrical barrels, 'coz of the scarcity of drinking water. I was told by CJJ that many years ago, there were no barrels and instead country boats itself were filled with potable water, after a thorough clean up and water was distributed to all the households in the area.
…narrow bridges connecting the two sides of the canal were spotted everywhere…..
Most of the houses seem to be owning a boat, either a motor boat or country boat and some seem to be having a private kadavu where they park their boats. You can also see a traditional cane basket used for fishing in one of the pictures below.
BUT do you really think I took the risk of travelling with Little King, in that small country boat through a vast lake , with zero skill in swimming, just to drench myself in the tranquilizing charm of this village? No! Those who have been following this blog for last few years know that I had something else in my agenda…..to make my dream a reality …my dream of visiting Ammachi, CJJ's grandma who shared my maternal grandmother's name.....who introduced me to new levels of flavours in my cooking, who shared some of her classic dishes with me over the phone……..and when Little King was born, I wanted him to have her blessings!
All of us were full yet she did not let us disperse without a cup of tea and some fruit cake……And as our boat began to move away, with a touch of anxiety in her words, she called out ," mole….avide etheettu udane vilkkanam ketto…" (call me when u reach home)
For an average farmer or fisherman, if a medical emergency arises, I think it takes about minimum 15-20 minutes or more , to reach a decent primary care especially if they don't own a motor boat and all they have is that small country boat as the main mode of transport …..and that perhaps would be the most decisive 15-20 minutes of one's life!!!!! Does beauty and tranquility come with a price??


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Do you want to look like a 1996-era Peter Criss? Of course you do and you're in luck…
An outfit worn by Criss on KISS's 1996-97 world tour is now up for sale on eBay. It can be yours right here, but be warned, the bidding is already approaching $6,000.
Criss seems to be an easy target for this kind of thing. Back in 2011 a life-sized model of the KISS man was listed on eBay, but, you know what, it did not meet its near $5,000 reserve. Who'd have thought it?
There's plenty more sticksmen that have been involved in online auction shenanigans, who can forget Vinnie Paul selling signed ovens and phones?
Carl Palmer listed a slightly more sensible item, when selling his Gretsch kit, even promising to deliver the drums in person to the winning bidder. The personal touch worked, the kit sold for just shy of £3,500.


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President Colin G. Campbell
Message from the President
The Idea of America
To begin to appreciate how much the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation relies on history to inform the future, to get an inkling of the promise of our Education for Citizenship initiatives, a person need only stand for a while on Duke of Gloucester Street to watch the youngsters throng by.
In the summer, the children are often dressed in rented costumes, vacationing with their families. They come to the restored colonial capital to get a feel for Williamsburg during those tumultuous years when such men as Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Randolph, and Mason challenged the English king and led their fellow colonists from being subjects of the monarch to citizens of a republic which is all about freedom.
During the school year, 140,000 young people tour the Historic Area to engage with these "nation builders" and observe the seeds of revolution being sown. Also during the school year, as many as six million elementary and middle-school students make virtual Historic Area visits through electronic field trips broadcast across the country. This innovative approach to teaching enlivens classrooms and helps overcome the myth that history is dull. About 400 teachers spend a summer week at Colonial Williamsburg to immerse themselves in early American history in order to enrich the learning experience of their students and to expand the horizons of their teaching.
Building on this remarkable record of educational leadership, and consistent with our aspiration to change the way American history is taught at all levels, we are now launching a totally digitally delivered secondary-school curriculum, The Idea of America, an initiative based on the belief that history and civic education are mutually reinforcing and can be taught together in exciting new ways.
Supported with $4.5 million from generous Colonial Williamsburg donors, and aided by a host of classroom teachers from across the nation, Bill White, Theresa A. and Lawrence C. Salameno Director of Educational Program Development, has designed a pathbreaking new history and civics curriculum for America's high school students. It is interactive and case-based. There is no textbook as such, but rather it is a Web-centric program which will be particularly appealing to the current generation of students.
The Idea of America is best described as a series of case studies in how individual citizens created and sustain the republic we enjoy today. It does that from a historical perspective as compared to the old way of teaching civics—this is a legislature, this is an executive, this is a judiciary—which was seldom a scintillating educational experience.
In fact, the teaching of civics has almost disappeared from our schools. Yet, knowing how our citizens relate to our government, to their government, is critically important to people today, just as it always has been. If we are going to encourage engagement through effective education, which is one of the main goals of our Education for Citizenship program, we have to help citizens understand what they are engaging, how others have gotten involved, and what has worked and what hasn't worked.
Through reliance on primary sources, video, timelines, and online text, The Idea of America teaches students to analyze, synthesize, and make choices as they examine the historical and contemporary tensions between freedom and equality, unity and diversity, private wealth and common wealth, and law and ethics. Partnering with Pearson Education, a global leader in digital as well as print material publishing, the program will be marketed during the second quarter of 2010 for use in high schools beginning in the fall.
The Idea of America exemplifies how we are seeking to address Education for Citizenship in the Historic Area, in the nation's classrooms and in teacher education. This program links it all for the benefit of students and their teachers, so that the future may learn from the past.
Colin G. Campbell
President and CEO


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Spoiler Alert: Jay-Z To Hold & Star in Two-Day Music Festival in Philadelphia
Jay-Z may have one of the most successful and lucrative careers in hip-hop, a talented and renowned wife, a much cooed-over baby girl and part ownership in the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets basketball franchise. But does he have his own two-day music festival? Well, he'll soon have that, too.
On Monday, it is expected to be announced that Jay-Z will be the curator of and headlining performer at the first Budweiser Made in America music festival, a two-day event that will bring as many as 28 musical acts to Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Sept. 1 and Sept. 2. (Sorry, Brooklyn, but hasn't Jay-Z done enough for you already?) The festival, which will be produced by Live Nation, is to be formally unveiled at a Monday morning news conference with Jay-Z and Mayor Michael A. Nutter of Philadelphia and will assemble an eclectic lineup of "rock, hip-hop, R&B, Latin and dance" musicians, according to a news release from its organizers. No other acts chosen by Jay-Z were immediately announced, but when you have Kanye West on speed dial and share a home with Beyoncé, presumably opportunities are rife.
Tickets for the festival, which will give an unspecified portion of its proceeds to local non-profits via the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, will go on sale at ticketmaster.com and livenation.com on May 23.


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What body structures uniquely equip humans to throw objects frequently, at high speeds, and—for the practiced—with great accuracy? Research has revealed that if the throwing motion depended directly on muscle, we could only generate half the force that the human frame can actually muster. In the course of answering the question of where the rest of the throwing force originates, one recent study stumbled on a number of reasons why the human body looks like the product of specialized and intentional creation.
Publishing in the journal Nature, four scientists led by Harvard's Neil Roach examined the human mechanics of pitching a baseball and compared them to the chimpanzee's anatomy.1 A chimp's long-armed frame is well-suited for climbing and hanging from tree limbs, but this diminishes its potential for sustained, accurate, high-speed throwing. The researchers identified several uniquely human features that helped solve the mystery of mankind's expert throw.
First, humans have longer legs. Taking that first, long step when we begin the throwing motion stores a measure of elastic energy, later to be released. Second, we rotate our hips with a greater range of motion because of, in the Nature authors' words, "the tall, mobile waists of humans."1
Third, the study authors found a uniquely human angle between the head of the humerus (upper arm) bone and the axis of the elbow. So the overall shape of human arm bones helps store energy used for throwing. A fourth feature also has to do with angles. When throwing, the human frame aligns the upper arm with the orientation of the pectoralis major muscle, and these also align with the torso's rotation angle. This arrangement permits multiple forces to align, producing the fastest motion in the human body—the "rotation around the long axis of the humerus," which rotates more than 9,000 degrees per second!1
Last, humans have "hyperextendible wrists" that store and release even more energy.1 Altogether, the stored energy from the legs, hips, torso, shoulder girdle, and wrist loads its force to that of the appropriate muscle energies onto the projectile.
The end result? Professional pitchers can throw baseballs at close to 90 mph over 100 times during a three-hour baseball game.
The Nature study did not mention that each of these anatomical features requires precision control by the nervous system, as a recent That's a Fact video highlights.
So much for the verifiable science, which describes how throwing works so well in humans. In exploring why humans have anatomy fine-tuned for throwing, the Nature authors departed from the known to tell a tentative tale.
Following a strict evolutionary history, they ask how the human frame supposedly emerged from that of an ape-like ancestor. "Some of these features were probably selected for functions other than throwing," according to the Nature authors, who also wrote, "Furthermore, high-speed throwing was probably a critical component of a suite of hunting behaviors that enable early members of the genus Homo to thrive in new and varied habitats both in and out of Africa."1
Who selected "some of these features," and when and how? Which ones were "probably selected" first, and how could they have integrated with pre-existing structures? By what specific means could any natural process completely and precisely reorganize an entire body frame—including bone lengths, proportions, angles and thicknesses, muscle structure and attachment points, and nervous system control features—when no such process has ever been seen to accomplish anything so complicated?
These questions remain unanswered, as well as another. Some imaginary transitionary creature would, at some point, have lost its ability to swing from limbs, but still not yet have acquired all the required anatomical features for robust throwing. Since it could neither throw objects for hunting, nor climb trees nearly as well as its ancestors, wouldn't it have suffered from low fitness?
The Nature authors wrote, "It is difficult to establish when high-speed throwing first evolved."1 Establishing the timing of an event that never occurred does present its challenges.
No, it is not at all probable that merely the potential benefits of throwing would drive, push, pull, or in any way direct the wholesale rearrangement of an ape's anatomy toward that of a man's. The fossils keep turning up as either ape or human, and the anatomy of throwing remains uniquely human.2 Thus, both fossils and anatomy confirm the Genesis record of mankind having been created by God.
- Roach, N.T. et al. 2013. Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo. Nature. 498 (7455): 483-486.
- Guliuzza, R. 2009. Throwing Darwin a Curve. Made in His Image: Examining the complexities of the human body. ICR: Dallas, TX. p. 22.
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on July 19, 2013.


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Aww! Little Boy Has Adorably Naive Reaction to Bug Stuck in Spider Web [VIDEO]
When this little boy's father tells him that a bug caught in a spiderweb isn't going to ever be able to escape, the boy naively responds that he thinks the bug's "mommy has to come and get him out." It's a touching reminder of how the innocence of childhood can stand up to even the starkest cruelty of the natural world.
[via BuzzFeed]


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What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...
Opening your data to the world
How World Bank, Bloomberg, BestBuy and others are using public APIs to let customers connect to them in new ways
When Neil Fantom, a manager at the World Bank, sat down with the organisation's technology team in 2010 to talk about opening up the bank's data to the world at large, he encountered a bit of unfamiliar terminology. "At that time I didn't even know what 'API' meant," says Fantom.
As head of the bank's Open Data Initiative, announced in April 2010, Fantom was in charge of taking the group's vast trove of information, which previously had been available only by subscription, and making it available to anyone who wanted it. The method of doing that, he would learn, would be an application programming interface.
The API would place thousands of economic indicators, including rainfall amounts, education levels and birth rates -- some metrics going back 50 years -- at the disposal of developers to mix and match and present in any way that made sense to them. The hope was that this would advance the bank's mission of fighting poverty on a global scale by calling on the creativity of others. "There are many people outside the bank who can do things with the data set we never thought about," says Fantom.
"There are many people outside the bank who can do things with the data set we never thought about," says Neil Fantom, a manager at the World Bank.
One developer, for instance, created an app that married the bank's rainfall data to Google Maps to estimate how much rainwater could be collected on rooftops and subsequently used to water crops in different parts of the world. Another app provides facts about energy consumption and shows individuals what they can do to fight climate change.
Fantom and the World Bank aren't alone in this trajectory. A decade ago, open APIs were a novelty, but in the last few years they've been adopted at an accelerating rate. ProgrammableWeb, a website that tracks public APIs, listed more than 8,800 in early April. According to the site's data, it took from 2000 to 2008 for the number of APIs to reach 1,000, and then another 18 months for that to double. The jump from 7,000 to 8,000 took just three months.
The APIs cover a wide range of categories, including business, shopping, messaging, mapping, telephone, social, financial and government, according to the ProgrammableWeb website. They're becoming as necessary to an organisation as a website.
"In business today, an open API is more or less table stakes. It's something you have to have," says Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk, an analysis firm that focuses on developers. "Increasingly, your traction is going to be driven by how open and how programmatically manipulable your product is."
When Best Buy first launched its API, BBYOpen, in 2009, it gave developers access only to the chain's products catalogue, with descriptions and prices for all the items it had on sale, in the hopes that doing so would bring in more customers. That was part of a deliberate strategy to start slowly, says Steve Bendt, director of emerging platforms at Best Buy. "We had to prove these things over time," he says. "We started to prove out that this is a very vibrant and viable area to pursue."
But external developers wanted more, so the company added the ability to access reviews and ratings for products, find a nearby store and check whether a product is available there, and purchase the item through the website or mobile app in question, perhaps with a single click if the user has linked a credit card to the app.
It's been a hit. The mobile apps ShopSavvy, RedLaser and Milo all use BBYOpen as part of their apps. The makers of the app get a commission on sales through Best Buy's affiliate program. Shoppers can search for an item, or scan a bar code, and get information on pricing from various sellers.
Of course, that might mean a customer using the app might wind up buying from a competitor instead, but Bendt says that since websites and mobile apps have changed how people shop, what's important for Best Buy is to be in the mix. "If we're not in the consideration set, that's a missed opportunity." And the fact that the API makes it possible for customers to find out if a product is available for pickup at a nearby store once they've purchased it helps provide a competitive edge over online-only retailers, he says. "Now you can search for, buy and pick up within a matter or 20 to 40 minutes."
Legacy data issues
The idea of an in-store pickup option actually came from external developers, Bendt says, and it took the chain some effort to adapt its legacy system to make inventory data available through the API; the data needed to be reformatted to be compatible. "The systems were built at a time before web services and APIs were in active use," he explains. "It wasn't built in a way to expose it externally to the developer."
The specifics of how they did that varied greatly depending on the data source, but generally the team would try to expose some "snapshot" of the data, updated as frequently as possible. If the data proved useful, they found ways to make it available in closer to real time.
Best Buy's strategy was to start slowly, says Steve Bendt,the retailer's director of emerging platforms. Over time, it's added more data for external developers to incorporate into apps.
Getting existing systems to work with the new API was also a challenge at the World Bank, says Malarvizhi Veerappan, open data systems lead. Her group originally struggled with latency issues because its 8,000 different economic indicators were not all directly linked to one another. It was important, she says, to create a structure that could incorporate all that historical data and grow as new information accumulated.
"We didn't want the API to be a separate application. We wanted it to be part of everything else we did with the data," she says. "We needed to connect it back to our data system. It did require our improving our internal data system."
As the API grew, the team added performance monitoring and instituted policies to ensure good traffic flow. The organisation also increased server capacity and added server redundancy to assure availability of the API.
When financial information provider Bloomberg launched its Open Data Initiative in February 2012, the new open API -- BLPAPI -- was actually version 3 of the software development kit the company had already been using internally, says Shawn Edwards, Bloomberg's chief technology officer. In the old days, Bloomberg customers were given a dedicated terminal that connected them to the company's mainframe, which delivered market data, news and analysis.
Getting existing systems to work with the new API was also a challenge at the World Bank, says Malarvizhi Veerappan, open data systems lead.
(The name "Open Data Initiative" for both the World Bank and Bloomberg projects is just a coincidence; neither has any formal relationship with the Open Data Initiative that is about making use of publicly available data from various government sources.)
Bloomberg's project has since evolved into a software package that customers install on their own systems. Even before making it open, the company used the API to develop specific applications that allow customers to manipulate Bloomberg data on their own desktops.
With the launch of its open API, the company is now allowing customers to create their own apps, such as watch lists for selected securities or their own trading systems. They also allow outside developers to create apps that draw on other data sources as well as Bloomberg's. "We're not giving away market data. What this allows people to do is integrate with other services," Edwards says. "The API is a piece of software that connects to the Bloomberg cloud."
It just makes sense to let others do the app development, he explains. "We're not in the business of selling software," he says. "We're going to win their business by providing the best services and the best data."
When Bloomberg put out the open API, it decided to remove some of the old features previous versions supported. There was discussion as to whether the API should be backward compatible. "We said no," Edwards says. That meant some customers wound up with deprecated functions, but Edwards says it makes the API less cluttered with out-of-date functions.
Like most open APIs, the BLPAPI supports a variety of languages, so developers can choose the best one for their app.
One key to making an API successful lies in making it easy to use. Back in 2000, RedMonk's O'Grady says, APIs often used web services protocols, but they proved too complex. Now about three quarters of all APIs are REST-based, according to ProgrammableWeb, with SOAP a distant second.
The importance of clarity
Another important requirement is having extensive, clear documentation, and tools to help developers do their jobs. Bloomberg's initial documentation was aimed more at the financial experts who are its customers, and had to be reworked to tell developers what they needed to know.
"The API is a piece of software that connects to the Bloomberg cloud," says Shawn Edwards, Bloomberg's chief technology officer. "We're not giving away market data. What this allows people to do is integrate with other services."
The BLPAPI also tried to make work easier for developers by providing a replay tool that allows them to perform trial runs of their apps, but that was not available when it first launched. Best Buy's BBYOpen also gives developers a set of tools, including a test console to run apps and an automatic widget generator. The World Bank offers a query builder that lets developers select options.
Tools and ideas don't all flow outward from the organisations; external developers often provide information and frameworks to help each other out. BBYOpen, for instance, offers libraries created by developers in Java, .NET, PHP and other languages. At the World Bank, there's a discussion forum where developers can ask questions, and others jump in with solutions.
"They don't wait for us to respond to questions in the forum," says Veerappan, who is working on giving the forum more features and converting it into a knowledge base. "It's kind of interesting to see the knowledge that other developers have gained in the API," she says.
Successful APIs tend to have MIT-style open-source software licences; the World Bank, for example, uses an Open Source Attribution License. O'Grady says one key to success is being very clear about the terms of service, and not having an overly restrictive licence that discourages use.
He says Stack Overflow, a collaboratively edited question-and-answer site for programmers, has a very nice API, for instance, but that the terms of using it are difficult to navigate. Twitter irritated some developers, he adds, by being too insistent about issues such as how the time stamp was formatted, or insisting that the word "tweet" must be capitalised. While developers are unlikely to shun Twitter for being difficult to work with, O'Grady says, "Certainly in some cases if your product isn't that popular people will abandon it."
Cultural resistance
Another non-technological challenge to creating an open API is getting other people in the organisation, who are used to dealing in proprietary information and maintaining authority over their brand, to cede some control. "I had to do a lot of convincing," Bloomberg's Edwards says. "It's a different way of thinking, when you've been controlling your product."
But he says it was important to distinguish between the market data Bloomberg sells and things like the symbology and software that the company doesn't need to control. "The time for all these proprietary interfaces is gone," he says. "It doesn't add value anymore."
Best Buy's Bendt also faced concerns. "It was tough when we first started talking about an API platform," he says. Colleagues wondered, "What are they going to build? What if they create a bad experience?" The company addressed that with rules about how developers could use the data; they must attribute it to Best Buy, for instance, and can't appropriate it for other purposes. There's no pre-approval of apps, but the company does regular audits to make sure the apps comply with the terms of service.
At the World Bank there was worry that giving away data would mean giving up the revenue that paid for curation of the data. Fantom says the bank decided a free model would actually be better for the bank's main objective of fighting poverty. "By making these data available for free and using these tools, we've seen a massive increase in the use of our data," he says. "Once you start getting into this, it's pretty clear that this is the right thing to do."
All these organisations say their APIs continue to evolve, adding new functionality, responding to feedback from developers and customers and figuring out what data to make available. "You've got to release the right kind of data with the right documentation. Really, it comes down to what customer problems are you going to solve by doing what you do," Bendt says. "It's not a launch-it-and-leave-it type of capability. It's constant learning and constant improvement."


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It's hard to believe, but Anna Nicole Smith's baby girl is not such a baby anymore...Dannielynn is already 10-years-old!
The daughter of the late model and Larry Birkhead hit double-digits on September 7, celebrating the milestone day accordingly with a visit to Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
Birkhead sat down with the Today Show to give an update about his beautiful, little girl, how she's just a "regular kid" and how he thinks Smith would feel about his parenting.
"I made a conscious decision a long time ago to move to Kentucky,'' he said regarding their decision to stay out of the spotlight following Smith's death in 2007. "I do that on purpose because it takes away the chase, it takes away the curiosity, it takes away the false stories."
Still, people ask whether Dannielynn will live a Hollywood lifestyle like her mother in the future.
"People call me all the time and say can she be in a movie, can she model?" Birkhead revealed. "I didn't care about it, so I'd say no she's not interested. She's just a regular kid. She's into technology now and she's into games and these YouTube videos."
Rather, Birkhead is focused on giving Dannielynn the most normal childhood he possibly can despite the drama that surrounded their family in the past.
"You look back on it, and I'm a better person and a stronger person because of the stuff that I went through,'' Birkhead said, regarding the drama following Dannielynn's birth and Smith's death. "I look back ten years, I wouldn't have it any other way."
However, he admits he still suffers from hard days from time to time.
"There's things left unanswered, things that I didn't get to say to [Anna], and it's tough when you go to school and you're filling out the forms,'' he said. "It gets me every year. And you have to put 'deceased' on her mom's information.
He continued, "There's days that if I stop and think about it, and you ask me about it, you will see a tear, but every other minute of the day you will see a smile. That's just how it goes."
So how does Birkhead think Smith would feel about his parenting skills?
"Other that I don't dress her in pink every day, I think she'd would probably think I'm doing a pretty good job,'' Birkhead said. "I'm not the best dad, I have my faults, but I do the best I can with what the situation is. We make the best of it, and I think Dannielynn's best days are still to come. She's got such a bright future in front of her, and I try every day to keep a little bit of the memory alive of her mom."


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San Francisco artist Shalo P (our interview w/ him) opens his first solo show VALLEY at Adobe Books this Saturday Nov 10th. Don't know a whole lot of what to expect, but if this and the images he emailed us is any indication, it should be interesting indeed.
VALLEY is an ensemble of supple relationships, a climax of virtualization. Drawings, hand-drawn and digitally rendered, elucidate an affair with one SISTER SPREAD. Disconcerting, challenging, stimulating still images. As the eyes move over them, reception is comparable to the sensing movement of our consciousness, jumping back and forth between the various layers of reality, between past and present.
Adobe Books
3166 16th St.
reception 7PM-10PM
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French site Phototrend sat down with a bunch of Canon executives for an interview at…
Camera News: Leica SL2 Announced, Sells For 6 Grands
Leica announced another exclusive and expensive photographic gadget, the Leica SL2.
The Leica SL2 is available beginning November 21, 2019. If you have $6000 to burn you may preorder the Leica SL2 at B&H Photo or Adorama. We recommend you get a Canon EOS R instead.
Leica SL2 at a glance:
- 47.3MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
- Maestro III Image Processor
- 5.76m-Dot 0.78x-Mag. EyeRes OLED EVF
- 3.2″ 2.1m-Dot Touchscreen LCD
- 5K/DCI 4K Video; HLG & 10-Bit Recording
- ISO 100-50000, Up to 20 fps Shooting
- Contrast-Detect 225-Area AF System
- 5-Axis Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization
- 187MP Multishot, Dual SD UHS-II Slots
Leica press release:
Building on the foundation established in 2015 with the visionary Leica SL-System, Leica Camera proudly introduces the Leica SL2, the storied brand's new icon and next evolutionary step towards building the perfect all-purpose camera. By listening closely to the valued feedback of photographers and existing SL owners, Leica made many efforts to push the envelope of technological innovation and performance while respecting its heritage of design and legacy. In addition to a technical marvel of pure performance and unmatched build quality, the Leica SL2 is also a joyous experience to use with improved ergonomics and more comfortable grip married to the well-established, simplified three-button control layout, further unifying the Leica design language across multiple product lines. While cutting-edge new features such as in-body image stabilization unlocks newfound potential from legendary Leica M-Lenses, it simultaneously augments the growing selection of SL-Lenses which are some of the finest optics Leica has ever produced. The Leica SL2 is the natural evolution of the innovative Leica SL, serving as a groundbreaking embrace of the future of digital photography and videography while paying homage to its respected history and lineage.
Crafted with conscience
The SL2 is the only mirrorless camera designed and crafted in Germany, with an unmatched all metal solid construction and elegant leather wrap to withstand the time and deliver years of photographic pleasure, thanks to the sustainability guaranteed by consistent firmware updates.
Streamlined design with new status menus
The Leica SL2 offers an innovative user interface whose efficient design allows photographers to focus their attention on the creative process. The design alignment with the existing M and Q systems makes the adjustment even easier for existing Leica photographers.
The main recording parameters can be viewed on the rear display and adjusted quickly and easily with a simple finger tap. A click wheel, a joystick and three strategically placed, individually configurable buttons also contribute to a straightforward operation. Thanks to two dedicated status menus for stills and video recording, the parameters for either shooting mode can be adjusted entirely separately from each other.
Improved ergonomics for stress-free shooting in any situation
Despite significant technical improvements, and the presence of in-body stabilization, the Leica SL2 has kept the same size than its predecessor and feels particularly compact to handle. Improved body design paired with increased durability make the SL2 the perfect companion for all forms of shooting. The SL2's IP54 certification ensures an elevated weather sealing for more rugged situations, while a new option to turn off noise reduction during long exposures allows for more hands-free shooting. Less worry about the weather and environmental situations means photographers can focus more on getting the shot.
Overall the design of the SL2 recalls more of the iconic Leica identity and traditional design DNA elements that the brand has become known and loved for.
CMOS sensor with 47 megapixels for superior image quality
The unprecedented resolution of the SL2's CMOS image sensor in full-frame format results in an unparalleled level of detail rendition and image quality. Enormous dynamic range, a color depth of 14 bits per RGB channel and a sensitivity of up to ISO 50,000 enable outstanding image quality in all lighting conditions. Even when combined with Leica TL lenses, which are designed for the smaller sensor format of the Leica TL2 and CL, the SL2's sensor still delivers an excellent image resolution of over 20 megapixels.
New Leica Object Detection Autofocus
The new Leica Object Detention AF ensures a fast and reliable AF. In addition to an array of modes and features, including face recognition, the SL2's high-performance AF system also automatically detects whether a subject is stationary or in motion, and subsequently switches between motion and focus priority.
Optical image stabilization through sensor-shift technology
In a major evolution of the SL, the Leica SL2 features a suspended sensor which adjusts its position in order to quickly and efficiently compensate for camera shake. This in-camera method even makes image stabilization available to lenses that are not equipped with their own.
Additionally, in multishot mode, the tripod-mounted camera can record up to eight consecutive frames, whereby the sensor is shifted in half-pixel increments in between every exposure. This key feature results in images with an incredible quadrupled resolution of around 187 megapixels, leading to an extreme increase in detail resolution.
Leica EyeRes® viewfinder with even higher resolution
The camera's electronic viewfinder now boasts a resolution of 5.76 megapixels, allowing for a large, entirely natural-looking viewfinder image. Simultaneously, the experience is further enhanced when using the touchscreen, which has increased in size to a 3.2-inch diagonal, and now offers a significantly higher resolution of 2.1 megapixels.
Maestro III processor for ultra-fast operation
The new Maestro III processor facilitates a superior operating speed that shines in many aspects of the SL2's performance. The autofocus is significantly faster and allows for a virtually lag-free shutter release in any shooting situation, which is further complemented by the new Smart AF mode, which autonomously switches between focus priority and shutter release priority. Full-resolution recordings of consecutive images are possible at 10 frames per second with the focal plane shutter, and 20 frames per second with the electronic shutter. Thanks to two UHS-II-compatible SD card slots, raw files can be saved simultaneously in DNG and JPEG format.
Perfect tool for cinematographers
In addition to its great appeal for photographers, the Leica SL2 speaks the language of cinematographers, as the camera is able to record up to 60 frames per second in Cine 4K mode, and up to 180 frames per second in Full-HD mode. Activating Cine mode transforms the SL2 into a manually controlled cine camera as ISO becomes ASA, the shutter speed is marked in degrees on the rotary disk shutter, and the f-stops indicating the aperture ratio are replaced by T-stops, which measure the actual amount of light transmitted through the lens. Connecting audio equipment to the Leica SL2 no longer requires the use of adapters, as the camera now features a build in headphones and mic jack, complemented by a fully-fledged HDMI connector for external monitors.
Limitless connections
Featuring an L bayonet lens mount, the Leica SL2 is not only compatible with the ever-growing portfolio of SL-System lenses, but also with lenses of the TL-System and with the legendary lenses of Leica's M, S and R-Systems via adapter, providing more than 170 Leica lens options, guaranteed to offer the right fit for any photographic scenario. The L-Mount Alliance expands this scope of possibilities even further, by giving SL2 photographers access to L-mount-compatible lenses from Sigma and Panasonic.
Leica FOTOS App
Of course the new Leica SL2 is supported by Leica FOTOS, the versatile app available for Android and iOS Smartphones. Leica FOTOS connects directly to the camera via Wi-Fi (Bluetooth® is supported where available) and saves the registration details to make future connections between the camera and the app as fast and convenient as possible. Leica FOTOS enables photographers to access the Live View function of the camera and remotely change exposure-relevant settings such as aperture, ISO value, shutter speed and exposure compensation from a smartphone. It naturally also allows wireless control of the shutter release, which opens up entirely new creative opportunities.
Thanks to the high-resolution displays of modern smartphones, pictures can be viewed immediately at full size to assess their sharpness. The exposure parameters are also displayed, which can be extremely helpful for adjusting the settings for subsequent exposures.
As soon as a personal selection has been made, the pictures can either be shared in social networks, or saved for mobile post processing in the smartphone. Leica FOTOS can be used for this in combination with many popular post processing apps. To exploit the full potentials of digital image processing, the pictures can also be transferred to the respective app in DNG RAW data format. If users wish to save the finished pictures after processing on their smartphone, they can take advantage of the option for saving them to a separate Leica Gallery – this keeps painstakingly composed and processed pictures from the Leica FOTOS app separate from simple snapshots. Expect many new features and a whole new mobile workflow experience on the iPad when Leica FOTOS will be available in version 2.0 from November 21, 2019.
The Leica SL2 is available beginning November 21, 2019.


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